Steelers sign a pair of picks

Posted by Josh Alper on May 27, 2014, 5:00 PM EST

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Put two more draft picks in the signed column for the Steelers.

The team announced that they have signed fifth-round offensive lineman Wesley Johnson and sixth-round linebacker Jordan Zumwalt on four-year deals. They are the third and fourth members of the Steelers’ nine-player draft class to agree to deals with the team.

Johnson played left tackle at Vanderbilt, but projects to an interior role in the NFL thanks to arms shorter than what NFL teams look for in tackles. There’s not much settled in terms of depth in the interior of the Steelers’ line, which should bode well for Johnson’s chances of making the team and possibly contributing as a rookie.

Zumwalt saw time at both inside and outside linebacker while at UCLA and will likely wind up on the outside with Pittsburgh. He won’t be able to start working out with the full team until UCLA finishes its academic year and he’s going to have to show special teams value in order to stick regardless of which linebacker spot he winds up playing.

IMO, the Steelers should have drafted more secondary picks and less at LB. I like the Shazier pick a lot in round one. However, as far as the others, they would have been better served to bring back Debo for one more year and loaded up on DB’s to compete in training camp. We could always add more LB depth next draft after Debo retired.
I can’t help but think his presence would add great depth and combined with Joey Porter would make for an intense locker room. I still miss Porter since he left and I will never forget that image of James body slamming that Browns fan to the ground when he ran out onto the field.

He played at UCLA under d-coordinator Lou Spanos, a former Steelers defensive coach, in a similar scheme to what Pittsburgh plays. He can play both inside and outside LB and was very productive in college. Not a great athlete, but a big hitter and a very scrappy kid.

The steelers had a horrible draft. Ty Colbert for running the steelers into the ground. I enjoy listening to steelers fans cry as they look to the past for comfort because they know theres no hope for the future. That less-than-a-mill under the cap looks reeeal sexy doesn’t it Ditsburgh?

As much as people like to rail on the fact that the Steelers aren’t as focused on the secondary players as they should be, CB is one of those positions that seems to be difficult to predict success going from the collegiate to the professional level. I’m happy with the success of some of the more recent picks as Allen and Green, but I can’t understand for the life of me why they picked up William Gay after they dumped him the previous season. Not sure why there wasn’t more effort to keep Bryant McFadden as a leader on the team to back up Ike Taylor, but hey, what do I know?

That’s cute one and done, but you still a quarterback that can win a playoff game.

In an another issue aPittspuke shows how much people are jealous about the steelers Sucess. I know counting six is hard for you Puke because you need to that both socks and shoes from each foot. Cheers!

crownofthehelmet says:May 27, 2014 9:50 PM

“The Steelers need to re-sign the SB40 referee crew so they can win something.”
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Or they could have Jeramy “footsteps” Stevens play TE for the opponent.

Most likely both of these guys will probably end up on the practice squad for this year, and that’s just fine with me.

At inside linebacker, there’s Ryan Shazier, Lawrence Timmons, Vince Williams, Terrence Garvin and (hopefully) Sean Spence ahead of Zumwalt. He might have a better chance to make it as an outside linebacker, but that’s not been his position in the past. Howard Jones might even beat him out there.

Johnson was hand-picked by Mike Munchak, but again it’s just a numbers game. they already have 8 veteran players under contract and I think I’d take rehabbing Fernando Velasco over the him if they get that far down on the depth chart. There’s nothing wrong with the practice squad for the first year. Go Steelers!